


How to Make Friends and Vaporize Bandits

by VerminousLizard



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Adventure, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-02 03:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6548371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerminousLizard/pseuds/VerminousLizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation from where Tales from the Borderlands left the franchise. Introducing Pistol and Alexis, an unlikely duo who battle the borderlands of Pandora encountering various familiar faces on their journey to possibly, maybe save the world.</p>
<p>NB: will contain lots of violence, mild gore and awesome guns</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pistol sat happily among his "friends" spending his hard earned blood money. He laughed when they laughed and smiled when they did also, but he couldn't shake this feeling in his gut that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Though relaxed and relatively safe from the wildness of Pandora, he had an urge to expel it, to run out the doors with his gun in the air screaming loudly and manically. Although, that could have just been the alcohol taking hold.

He finished the last of his bottle and then made for the toilets, the sudden urge too strong to ignore. He sped in, did his business and sparsely rinsed his hands with the ice cold water that escaped the faucet. He looked up into the mirror as he shook his hands dry considering what he could see of his appearance. He wore a scuffed up old leather jacket on top an off-white vest with a loose blue neckerchief around his neck. His hair was short at the sides and far too long for his liking on the top.

He swiped back the long brown hair atop his head as it fell into his eyes; he hated that it got in the way of getting good shots. There and then he decided it had to go, he could be impulsive that way. He pulled out his more than sharp pocket knife and cut a good inch off the top. It fell over his forehead but gladly missed his eyes.

'Much better' he thought to himself smirking at his reflection. He slicked it back and turned to leave. A woman, tall, with golden hair that reached just above her shoulders, and wearing a much too big overcoat, stood in the doorway staring blankly at him. Pistol stiffened and instinctively reached for his gun in the holster at his hip, his finger hovering millimetres from the trigger.

"I hear you're the guy to hire if you need something done?" she began, "You willing?"

Pistol wasn't sure if this was serious or some new kind of roleplaying kissogram, he'd been getting them a lot lately, he wasn't sure why but he played along regardless, relaxing his stance.

"What's the job?" he asked, feigning seriousness and donning a poker face.

"Simple really, accompany me, keep me safe until I get what I need and then you get paid." She said bluntly.

Pistol squinted, 'definitely not a kissogram'. "What's the catch?"

"No catch, quick, simple and easy. Come now, and you'll be done before the day is over. I'll be waiting outside." she finished, before walking out the door.

He stood, a little stunned. This was the most random, out of the blue job offer he'd ever received, and he'd received many a random job. Like that one time an old recluse paid him an insane amount to plant MIRV grenades in the letterboxes of unsuspecting bandits. 'Ah, that was a blast' he thought to himself, chuckling at his impromptu pun.

He walked across the bar floor, his eyes zoning in on his friends. They were too wasted and completely oblivious to his absence. He could just leave, they'd never know, and then he could stash away the pay; finally have to enough to leave this good for nothing rock. It was almost as if fate had decided for him; his friends blanked him as he walked right past them, lifting his small haversack as he went, seconds later the door was swinging shut behind him. No-one even questioned him.

The early morning sun hit his eyes abruptly as he left, a welcome, if not straining change to the dim almost absent light of the bar. Situated in the middle of a desert plain, the bar had little for company other than the modest fuel station beside it. It was ideally situated for travellers and the residents of the nearby 'Hollow Point', and a somewhat safe place to stop and rest, unless you were unlucky enough that local skags got you. It was barely 8am, and by Pistol's principles that meant it wasn't too early to work. He took in a deep breath as his eyes adjusted; when he opened them he saw her, leaning against a motorbike that looked a tad too big for her, black from hood to exhaust (which was large enough to store a dead skag-pup) it bore a golden 'X' across the left side, simple but robust. He approached her with an ever increasing excitement growing inside his chest.

"I'll take the job." He told her, with a smile.

"Knew you would." She replied, with a sly smirk. She straddled the bike and revved the engine. "Hop on!"

Pistol tightened the straps on his bag and did so, "Do you mind me asking, what's your name?"

"Yes, I mind." She answered bluntly, revving the engine again and putting the bike in gear. Pistol disregarded her response, anonymity was probably best. He pulled his neckerchief up over his face as she immediately sped off. It would be a few hours before they reached their destination.

~\/*\/~

"Fuck, shit!" gasped Pistol, as his head hit the hard rock ceiling. His head lamp dug into his forehead, and he felt a small warm trickle of blood crawl down his forehead, as he continued awkwardly squeezing through the tightly packed rocks of the collapsed cavern. Caving had been the last thing on his to-do list and he wasn't in the slightest bit happy about it, but the pay, he could assume, was to be good; at least it would be if he survived. Despite his illusive employer's guarantee that he'd be fine, he was on edge. They had travelled for hours through the Highlands and Eridium blight and were now in the middle of nowhere heading into the core of a dormant volcano, surrounded by rocky cliffs and, well, more rocky cliffs. He felt trapped, cut off; he was starting to regret taking this job.

"Shut it! Or I'll... make you a permanent addition to this cave!" hissed his female partner in response. The malice in her voice was more mocking than serious and she clearly wasn't the best at threats; though he couldn't really tell, she barely spoke and when she did it was little and sometimes cryptic. She seemed somewhat new to socialising. There was a short silence before she added, "Come on, we're almost there."

Silently, they continued their journey through the winding cavities in the cliff-face; all the while Pistol thought about where 'there' actually was. Lying on their bellies they crawled between jagged rocks and soon a steady beam of light was visible. Pistol lay patiently as she pushed her way through, causing a small avalanche of mini boulders. The light intensified, he turned off his head lamp and watched as she shuffled out and rose to full stature. He crawled out behind her and did so too.

She dusted herself off and took a minute to take in her surroundings. Pistol's eyes were still adjusting to the light; they'd spent so long traversing the rocky veins he'd grown accustom the dimness the headlight allowed. He removed the deadly contraption and wiped his brow the blood already congealing; luckily there wasn't much and the cut seemed to have stopped leaking.

"This is it." She said plainly, gesturing to the massive area before them. It was a vast plain of blood-stained rocks enclosed by a decaying pool of lava, a mass of a darker looking rock lay near it. Tall and broken stadium lights all faced towards one very noticeable and questionably important monument at its farthest end... the remnants of a Vault.

"Where exactly is this?" he questioned, not recognising the terrain. He surveyed the area from east to west, the level varied from high to low and the molten lava that hugged the cusp was littered with massive boulders, which as he noticed, also littered the whole area. It looked as though someone tried to bury the place, like a battlefield.

"The Vault of the Warrior..." she said listing off into a daydream.

Pistol pondered a second, he knew the name, the infamous battleground, the way had traversed must have been the remnants of Hero's Pass, but why come here, there was nothing, "Hold on, remind why we're here again?"

She looked at him bewildered, "Did you not listen the first three times?!"

Silence was his only answer, as hers had been the last three times he'd inquired. He tightened his belt and stepped forward to begin his descent; he wasn't the best, or the worst, with heights and liked to take his time.

"Don't be so slow about it, this is an in and out job remember. God knows who's watching this place." She told him as he eased himself over the ledge.

"Who'd want to watch this place?" he asked absent-mindedly, the place was a dump. He felt about for a place to rest his foot. He glanced up to see her face stained with what he could only call hatred, whoever she was thinking of clearly wasn't in her good books.

Without thinking he released his grip on the ledge, the rock beneath his foot gave way and he felt himself fall. His heart was in his throat and time seemed to slow as he panicked and reached ahead of himself for another place to grab. He found none, and he watched as the safety of the perch reseeded from his view.

Milliseconds later a harsh pressure seized his wrist and he was falling no more. He dared to open his eyes and saw her barely holding onto him.

"You're a lot heavier than you look!" she exclaimed, through gritted teeth, her other hand joining the first and attempting (and failing) to pull him up.

Pistol felt a strange feeling flood him, happiness, appreciation? He didn't know what exactly, but it was warm and suddenly this woman was the best goddamned woman in the world to him. He cracked a weak, terrified smile.

"I'm gonna let go now" she told him. The feeling left as quickly as it had arrived and his smile faded rapidly into a gasp.

"No do-", he barely had a chance to speak before the falling sensation hit him again. But it was over before he knew it. His feet hit ground and all his instincts took over to stop him from toppling, and all of them failed. He hit warm earthy rock ass first with an audible thud and loud grunt.

He glared upwards, noticing that the drop wasn't nearly as high as he'd assumed it was, barely 10 feet above him she stood towering over the edge.

"You okay?" she asked, she seemed to convey genuine concern.

"Yeah" he answered jumping to his feet ignoring the stinging pain in his backside. "Just dandy..."

The next thing he knew she had leapt from her perch and was beside him and already heading deeper into the area. He followed unquestioning but still wary.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Pistol finally decided to ask after following her for a good few minutes; there were pretty much in the exact centre of the complex.

"Anything odd, different, valuable, hell, just anything really. You start over there." She answered pointing him toward a massive rocky pile of rocks that seemed to have some shape to it. She headed in the opposite direction.

Pistol dawdled over to where she directed him, his eyes scanning the ground as he went looking for anything that stood out or looked different. He found nothing. He kept thinking back to his friends in the bar, had they realized he was gone yet? Or where they too rat-assed to even remember what day it was? He concluded he'd find out later, hopefully, and went back to searching.

Minutes passed and still nothing that seemed of any import. A few crappy guns barely staying together, some random looking mechanical pieces and rocks, there was definitely plenty of rocks.

"Hey!" he shouted, to grab his female partner's attention. It worked better than he could have hoped.

Almost as if her life depended on it, she ran to him, leaping over a few obstacles in her way in the least graceful of ways. Her hair, loose, fell behind her and she almost fell a few times. He couldn't help but think 'what on earth could be so important?'

She reached him and gasped deeply for air a few times before returning to normal. She barely held in the words and spoke with urgency, "What did you find?!"

Her hand reached out and fell short of his shoulder, resting a few centimetres off it. There was an eagerness in her eyes he couldn't explain, he suddenly regretted calling for her.

"Well?" she questioned, the dumb look on his face was not appealing or at all what she wanted.

"Um... no, sorry...I- uh..." he trailed off, rubbing at the back of his neck. She pushed him back and grunted loudly, clearly reaching the end of her patience.

"Dammit!" she exclaimed, ruffling her hair and backing off.

Pistol, still under they sway of her push, lost his balance and tripped over a jutting rock falling backwards into darkness; his yelp was lost in the echo as he hit the ground.

 'Not again...' he groaned, allowing his behind some recovery time. Looking up he saw the gaping boulder-sized hole which he'd fallen through. 'How the hell did I miss that?'

He barely had a chance to stand before his ears tuned in to the woman shouting his name, "Down here!" he yelled up to her.

She peered over the edge above him, nothing but a silhouette to him. Before long she less than carefully joined him her jaw dropping at the find.

As she made her way down he turned to see what she'd took an interest in and his jaw too hit the floor. A massive control panel, littered with buttons of every shape and colour he could think off sat rusting away, half-crushed beneath a boulder the size of a small car. She stepped to his side. They both glanced at each other. Pistol smirked awkwardly, a gestured for her to go first. "After you", she shoved past him before he could even finish.

She headed straight for the device and started looking it over. Pistol simply watched her, what she lacked in people-skills she made up for in determination and inspiring in it others, or him at least.

"It's Hyperion..." she mumbled just loud enough for him hear.

"That's important? Aren't they gone?" he felt the need to ask. When Helios station fell from the skies over half a year ago all anybody had done was talk about them, but by now they were old news and nobody cared. This control console seemed of no greater consequence to him than the scraps that littered Helios' crash site.

"Yep, but this means we're definitely in the right place. Which we already knew, but hey, extra confirmation!" She answered. Pistol stood in silence as she pulled out a loose panel and started tinkering with the insides. "Damned, circuit's fried... what am I saying, of course it fried, it's been years!"

Pistol watched her ramble on, and mess with the 'power core' as she called. She definitely knew her tech. She yanked it from its home and looked it over before placing it in her pocket.

"So, is that what you're looking for?" he inquired.

"Nope."

"Okay, want to tell me why we're here yet?" he chanced to ask again, hoping now she'd feel more open.

She stopped what she was doing, and seemed to contemplate the question, staring into space for a short while before turning her gaze to him. She .

"Look, um, Pistol? The less you know the safer.... No that sounds really cliché..." she stopped and took a while to think again. "What I mean is...."

She trailed off again and tried to find the words. Pistol raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Still she struggled to grasp the words, and the more she tried the less convincing she sounded.

Finally she gave up, sighing long and loudly, "Honestly? I don't actually know what I'm here for..."

"Wait, what?!" Pistol exclaimed disbelievingly, "You don't know what you're here for?"

"Nope. Not a clue." She responded bluntly. "I figured I'd know what I was looking for when I saw it... but... apparently that's not the case"

Pistol's eyebrow couldn't raise itself any higher. He could hardly restrain himself from laughing. This girl had hired him to accompany her to pretty much the middle of nowhere in search of something that could literally be anything. He couldn't believe her.

"Why. Are. You. Here then?!" he yelled. He briskly calmed himself. "Ahem, sorry."

She glared softly at him before answering simply, "Someone told me I'd find answers here. And also...Why the hell not?" she said, excitement entering her tone, "This place is history, the grave of the Warrior, of Handsome Jack! This is where he was murdered!"

"Murdered?" he questioned her wording, the guy was an insane, quite literally two-faced psychopath who murdered millions if not more, surely his death was justice.

"What? You don't think-". It was at that moment when a shadow crossed the gap above them, they both immediately became quiet and turned their eyes to the hole. Pistol looked to her, her face was ablaze with fear and anger her eyes focused pinpricks trying for fight past the glare of the midday sun.

"Could've just been a Rakk?" Pistol whispered, hoping to bring back the calm.

"Rakk's never travel alone." She said harshly, beginning her ascent with trepidation. Pistol followed.

~\/*\/~

Reaching the top they both stayed crouched, it wasn't too long before rapid shots were fired from an unknown source.

Pistol immediately took action, "Get to cover!" he shouted, pulling his out of his holster. He pushed her over towards the nearest ridge, still crouched. He chanced a few pot-shots as they moved, flinching at every bullet that hit his shield. He shuffled in beside her and reloaded.

"Not Rakks then..." he said, tossing aside the empty clip.

"No, definitely not!" she said, making herself as small against the stone wall as she could.

Pistol leaned out and emptied another clip, ducking back as a bullet narrowly missed him and hit the rock, sending debris spraying. He reloaded and took a quick glance at his employer.

"What are you doing?! Get your gun out!" he shouted over the gun fire, finishing by clicking the magazine into place.

"I don't have one." She replied coolly.

"What?! You don't have one?!" he exclaimed, "You live on Pandora! Everything here wants to kill you! Why don't you have a gun?!"

She didn't answer and merely stared awkwardly at him, with guilty eyes, before shrugging. The gunfire ceased for a brief moment before starting again. He emptied yet another clip and again reloaded. He had accepted all her quirks and had also accepted this job, he had to protect her.

"Hey, look, since there's a bloody big chance that we're going to die here, could you at least tell me your name?"

"You're seriously asking me this again now!" she shouted over more gun fire.

"Well, I guess, yeah... I am asking. Don't really want to die for a nameless employer..." He shouted back. He jumped up and fired blindly at the enemy and ducked when his shield gave out.

"Shit." He cursed. He impatiently waited for it to recharge, it never did. "We are so screwed!"

"Alexis..."

"What?"

"My name, its Alexis."

He smiled, widest he had that day and stared at her.

"Those guys, are still trying to kill us, dude! Wipe that dumb look off your face!" she reminded him, with a hard slap on the shoulder.

He quickly tried to weigh their options. There weren't many. They could make a run for it and risk others being ready for them, or stay where they were and chance trying to pick them off one by one, then again there was a chance they were already surrounded. He formulated his best idea of a 'plan'.

"Alexis, you go, head for an exit. I'll cover you. If anything happens to me-" He ordered her

"Oh come on man, not this 'I'll be your hero' shite!" she retorted, "Screw covering me, get your ass over to that vantage point."

She pointed to the most open area she could find, "Are you insane?! That's no vantage point that's murder central! I'll die for sure!"

"Just do it, surrender yourself or buy time, do something, oh... and try not to die, too quickly at least." She said making off in the other direction while remaining hidden behind the taller rocky shelfs.

Pistol shook his head and huffed a little, cursing under his breath, the gun-fire serenading him would be the last thing he heard. 'Should've stayed at the bar!' he thought.

He heard footsteps to his right and he peaked around the corner towards his assailants, an average sized man was running right in his direction, he leaned back and readied his gun. The man barely turned the corner when Pistol pulled the trigger

"God dammit" he yelled, hearing the gun-fire stop. This was his chance and he sped off, jumping over the fresh corpse.

He ran and tried not to think of the impending doom that loomed behind him, or possibly ahead of him. Making himself more exposed was in no way what he wanted to do, but for some dumb reason or other he felt he could trust Alexis. Crazy as she might be this planet was crazier, and crazy was a must if you wanted to survive.

He reached his position and spun on the spot his gun raised and ready, no shower of lead came to his surprise. He waited longer, nothing still.

"Huh, that's odd-"

*BANG*

In his moment of confusion he'd let his guard down. A single, sharp-shot bullet met with his lower thigh and he fell. Blood oozed out at an alarming rate. He cursed the sniper that had got him and wrapped his now stained red hands tightly around his wound hoping to reduce the bleeding. He bit his lip to distract from the pain but it didn't work.

"Fffffffffffuuuuu-", he started, closing his eyes. 'Why didn't they just kill me?' he then wondered.

Upon opening his eyes he wished he hadn't. His enemies, bandits, no less were moving in on him. 'Bastard's have gotten smarter' he thought, smirking. Bandits were too dumb to use cover this effectively, perhaps theses "Bandits" weren't just typical bandits or bandits at all.

Taking his gun in his hand, Pistol raised it and fired. The bandit in front of him dropped after two bullets ripped through his chest, blood spraying out of his new orifices. Another stupidly came up from behind him right into Pistol's line of sight, another few rounds shot and he too was falling to his knees, crimson spewing from his throat, he gargled drowning. Pistol fired his a single round straight between his eyes and he dropped, finally dead.

More ran to surround him, Pistol fired shots in all direction, some direct hits and others dire misses. He kept pulling the trigger until the clip was exhausted. One, who he assumed to be their leader, approached him, kicked the gun out of his hand and then crouched beside him. They had an impromptu stare-off before the "bandit" shoved the barrel of his rifle into his leg wound.

Pistol screamed out in agony and tried to shuffle away from this source only to be held in place by another "bandit" from behind.

"What do you want?" he managed to say through gritted teeth, the metallic coppery taste of blood began to invade his mouth.

"The girl." The "bandit" behind him said, "Where is the girl?"

The other jammed the gun into his leg again, let him scream and writhe for a while, and then stopped to let him answer.

"Girl? What girl?" Pistol spat, 'Just got to buy some time, god I hope she hasn't ditched me'.

"THE. Girl. The one you came here with!" snapped the first bandit. The more he spoke, the more his odd accent became apparent, and he over emphasised his vowels.

"I didn't come here with no girl!" Pistol finally said, trying to mock the guy's accent.

The "bandit" causing him pain suddenly stopped and grabbed his neck, squeezing down tight. The bandit opened his mouth to speak but no words came. Instead a steady stream of crimson flowed forth and his grip waned before he keeled over dead.

Pistol was disturbed to say the least, and now he was covered in not just his own blood but that guy's too. He hadn't even considered what on earth had killed the guy.

'Gross' he thought, he'd seen worse but this time he was covered in it.

The bandit behind pulled him to a near standing position and held a gun to his head. He commanded his men to move but upon further inspection they too were dead. What had happened during their short exchange?

"Show yourself! Demon!" yelled the bandit, his voice shook.

Mere seconds later, Pistol felt his grip fade also and he limped away. Turning he saw the "bandit's" throat had been slit. Beside him stood Alexis, dirty but surprisingly clean of any blood. In her hand was a blood-stained blade, she swiped it clean on the bandits clothes and sheathed it by her side.

She noticed him staring, "What?!"

"Did you? How did? You killed them?" Pistol rambled, struggling to stand and stay conscious. He fell, his leg giving way under the strain, suddenly his head was aching too. She rushed to him, retrieving an insta-medpack from his bag and jabbing it into him.

As calm swept over him, Pistol allowed himself a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking again, "What the hell was that? How?"

Alexis remained silent and avoided eye contact. She tore a segment off the hem of her coat and began to tie it around and above his wound.

"How did you do that?" he persisted, his strength coming back to him.

"Used this knife," she told him patronisingly, patting it in its leather bed.

"How?!" he repeated, more intensely.

She rolled her eyes and shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out and strange, small, blue hexagonal looking device. It looked like a pocket watch of sorts, "This is how. It makes you invisible. See?!"

She quickly demonstrated and then flipped it her hands. She held it there and examined it closer.

"You had that all along and you didn't-"

"I didn't 'have it all along', I found it when I was flanking those dicks. Not knowing what you're looking for pays off sometimes, right?" she said smiling.

Pistol found it difficult to smile back, "So that's what took you so long?!"

"Hey?!" she questioned, "I was as fast as I could be, you could be dead now, if I hadn't found or figured that thing out as fast as I did! Would you rather I'd just ran in and gotten both of us killed?"

Pistol, now able, stood and shook himself off. "I'm sure you were, but even then only one of us would have died either way." He spoke bluntly.

"What do you mean?" she said, putting the odd device into her pocket.

"They were looking for you, asked "for the girl I came here with", i.e. you." He answered.

Her face grew grave and plain. She glanced at the masked bodies and then approached one before roughly removing his mask. The man definitely wasn't a bandit, or at least hadn't been for very long. His facial hair was far too clean-cut, and clean in general, and his overall complexion was that of someone who hadn't really see the sun. She proceeded to search through his pockets, producing very little other than a picture and an I.D card.

She sighed and rubbed her chin, "Damn, she whispered, guy had kids." She tossed the happy image away, Pistol grew more disgusted with each passing second, what was once admiration was slowly turning sour; but it didn't entirely fade and still it persisted.

"And that?" he asked bitterly with regards to the I.D.

"He works, or rather worked, for Hyperion. We can now assume they all did."

"But Hyperion's nothing now, gone, poof, a pile of rubble. Who'd still work for them?" he wondered out loud.

She simply shook her head.

"And what do they want with you?" he pressed further.

"Wish I knew... no really, I do. I've no idea why they'd want me, for any reason... at all..."

For all her skills lying was not one of them, but he wouldn't press the issue; for now.

It was then something shiny crossed her eyes as she paced to and fro. She squinted and stepped side-to-side ascertaining its location and went to get it.

"Don't you think we've spent long enough here?!" he called after her. He'd had enough of her secrets and was beginning to regret ever leaving his bed that day, a simple straight answer to anything he asked would be nice.

She ignored him and began digging up whatever it was she had spotted. She dusted the sand and dirt from the object and held it up.

Pistol's eyes widened, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Why what do you think it is?" she said distantly staring aimlessly at it.

"Well is it?!" he asked again, ignoring her silly question.

"Oh, yeah, it is."

"The real thing? The thing he wore? On his face?" Pistol asked meaningless question after question. Waving his hand over his face, half-gagging at the thought, "His face?"

Alexis turned to look at him, "Yes, this is THE, Mask of Handsome Jack!"


	2. Chapter 2

Pistol had, after much deliberation, opted to stay with Alexis, until he got paid at least. After their little adventure and archaeological discovery they'd left the area with great haste; not willing to risk any more bandits showing up. They were now walking back the way they had come; walking out of necessity rather than choice, the Hyperion Bandits had taken it upon themselves to trash Alexis' bike and now with great effort she wheeled it back, the broken pieces tied onto the seat. Luckily, she had said, the storage compartment was still intact; and she was adamant on persevering what was left of Handsome Jack's mask; 'it could be valuable' she'd said.

They now walked in silence. Alexis wore a scowl on her face, anger towards who and/or what was beyond Pistol's comprehension, she had refused to speak shortly after they'd found her ride in ruins. He pondered their find and why she'd event went there. 'Someone told me I'd find answers' her voice echoed in his head. Who said? What answers? To what? 'Doubt you even found any...' , he thought, somewhat angrily. His leg was holding fine, and she may have saved his ass but he still blamed her for it. Even still, he wasn't the sort to hold a grudge and soon found himself trying to cheer her up.

"Hey, it could be worse right? They could've taken the parts for scrap too!" he said jokingly in reference to her bike, he smiled at her. She showed not even a flicker of emotion, as though she was in a deep reverie, miles away and unreachable.

Pistol couldn't help himself and reached a hand out to lay it on her shoulder, "Hey?" he said, shaking her gently.

She flinched away and then looked up at him, if he didn't know better Pistol would have said she was contemplating something big, but he was in no place to assume. "You okay?"

She huffed, as if it was obvious, and pushed her bike forward faster and with more effort. "Fine. Come on, faster we get back faster you get paid. Right?"

Pistol couldn't deny the logic in that, but refused to believe that she just wanted rid of him. There was more to all this, why had he even been hired, she handled it better than he had. There was something she hadn't told him and he felt the need to know.

A few hours later, the sky long ago blackened as the sun set, they were back in the bar they had left that morning. Alexis propped up her bike and placed a cover over it; she was still pissed.

Together she and Pistol entered the bar. It was still fairly empty, although half the dayw was already gone. The regulars had surprisingly not yet arrived for the night sessions. Not much to Pistol's surprise his drunkard 'friends' were still there, a few passed out and the rest barely clinging on to consciousness.

"You want something?" he offered her veering towards the bar, pulling a few dollars out of his pocket.

She ignored him and headed straight for a small booth in the corner. He ordered two cold beers and brought them to the table. He took a gulp from one and slid the other across the table to her.

She glanced up briefly, then returned to the small leather pouch in her hands. She was counting. Seconds later she pulled out an impressive clump of cash and slammed it on the table in front of him.

"There you go, as promised. It's a little over 2K, figured you could do with a bonus after getting shot and all..." She said plainly shoving the purse into her pocket and zipping it shut. She lifted the beer bottle and took several large swigs. Setting it down she sighed long and seemed to completely relax.

Pistol pocketed the money; strangely, even after everything, he trusted her enough to not want to count it. With no reason to trust her, his conscience screamed at him to at least see some sense and be on edge; this woman had after all brought him to a Volcano crater in search of nothing in particular. He ignored it. As secretive as she was being Pistol believed there was a reason for it, there was a reason for everything people did right? He wasn't going to just mark her as untrustworthy or evil because of one little thing. He sipped at his drink and pondered what was to happen next.

"Go! Go, do whatever it is guys like you do after nearly dying." she said absently, waving him off. She pulled out the small power core she had acquired earlier and started tweaking at it. He'd no clue where she'd pulled the small screwdriver from and thought it best not to ask.

"I'm not going anywhere." He replied with a smile. "Oh, and we're doing it... the thing 'guys like me' do after nearly dying."

Her brow furrowed and she reluctantly removed herself from her project, "Why? I've got nothing else for you."

She took another drink, as did he. Pistol kept smiling and gave out a brief laugh.

"You have answers, I hope, to at least some, of the questions I have."

Another swig and she was staring confused at him. She picked at the label on the bottle, before nodding, he took this as the go ahead.

"Thanks." He cleared his throat, "First off, Why me? Of all the guns-for-hire, why did you hire me?"

"Safety in numbers... and why you? I guess because... you're cute, handsome? 'Insert desired compliment here'..." she said jokingly gesturing air quotations. He laughed but didn't believe a word of it.

"Yeah sure, you handled yourself just fine when shit hit the fan so why bother? Why waste the money."

She took another drink and the bottle was done. 'Damn she drinks fast' Pistol thought, he tightened his grip on his still half-full bottle and took another, larger, sip. He didn't know why but he suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

"Nothing's a waster of money, unless it's useless, and besides, why not?" she answered, her green eyes piercing into him with a long hard stare that lingered on. Breaking eye contact she continued, "Look, I'd very much just like to sit here and mourn the loss of bike that was, for lack of a more sane word, like a best friend to me... so please leave me in peace.

While her acting was the worst and most laughable he'd ever seen Pistol found himself frowning. She couldn't be serious, was her cranky mood because some bandits trashed her bike? 'It's not like it irreparable', he thought to himself.

"I know what you're thinking, 'it's just a bike, it can be fixed', but... that bike, it had... meaning, sentimental value... god that sounds so dumb when I say it out loud." She told him, her gaze lowered to her hands, which Pistol noticed, were fumbling. She again looked upset, as if she were about to cry. But she also looked like she was just messing around, pulling his leg. Pistol didn't understand how someone could convey those two feelings at once and still be convincing and yet also unconvincing. He considered her words, 'sentimental value', someone had given it to her? Built it for her? A scenario going along those lines was stuck in his head.

He shook his head and stood, giving up on her. He zipped up his jacket and stuffed his hands in his pockets, then took a spilt second to reconsider his choice, staring down on her now, he saw nothing but an innocent woman, trapped in this chaotic world along with the rest of the idiots who came to Pandora. Being in the same boat, he quickly came to the conclusion, that it would be best to help her.

"Come on, I know a guy who knows a guy, out in Hollow Point, well I just know the guy who isn't even a guy... but look, we can get it fixed and then you can stop being such a mopey git and actually do... whatever it is you do, find those 'answers' you're looking, I guess. Shouldn't take too long, it's pretty much next door."

Alexis smiled, the same smile she'd made when they'd first met in the toilets in this very bar. It was sly and also genuine, oddly enough it changed her entire disposition. She stood up, seemingly brimming with glee. There was something sinister about it, almost as if she'd been waiting for it. He couldn't but silently question whether there were other motives behind everything she did. He didn't dwell on it.

"Okay, let's go." She said, eagerly and briskly exiting the bar. Pistol stood, safe to say a little stunned by her. He just couldn't quite wrap his head around her; he feared he'd never understand her.

~\/*\/~

"Okay so this 'guy' is reliable yes?" Alexis questioned, once again pushing her bike along. They had headed out into the dark of night, using the headlight of the bike to light their way. Pistol hadn't lied when he said it was next door, Hollow Point was imbedded into the cliff-face directly facing the bar complex and after about a twenty minute walk they were walking through a compound of make-shift houses and streets. It seemed larger than he recalled but he put that down to the light emitting from the buildings, the cavern ceiling reflected the light in such a way that it seemed to go on forever.

Pistol noted that Alexis seemed a hell of a lot more upbeat than he had ever seen her, and it was freakishly disturbing to him. Her initial serious demeanour that he had endured the whole day was, by all visual means, gone. Maybe she was crazier than he initially thought.

"Well, I believe so, sooo yeah, you could say that, 'reliable'" he answered, taking up a pushing stance on the other side of the vehicle. He felt her mood dip in that instance.

"Hey, stop. If I needed you to help I'd ask." She immediately ordered, in a serious and sharp tone, as he grasped the handle. Pistol defensively backed-off and raised his hands above his head. "I'm not helpless, you said so yourself."

Pistol raised an eyebrow and slowed his pace, falling ever-so slightly behind her. She spoke the truth, he had, though employing different words, said he was capable but that didn't mean she had to refuse his help, or any help; it was a rare thing to get on Pandora refusing it usually meant death. It was like anyone or anything impeding her own path was abhorrent and useless, if she couldn't do it herself it wasn't worth doing. It reminded him of his late sister, she too had been stubborn, to a fault, not listening to or regarding any help from anyone. He didn't want the same fate to befall Alexis as had befallen his sister.

Pistol was suddenly knocked out of his day-dream when someone walked right into him. The man wore a brimmed hat and dark overalls, his face was indiscernible, he grumbled his apologies and stumbled away, Pistol didn't think twice about it. Turning back to face the way forward his eyes autofocused on the figure ahead of him. He expected to see Alexis, in a power stance, looking down her nose at him for lagging behind, but he was greeted by another, not much smaller than Alexis, and thankfully familiar face.

"Piss!!! My Bro!!!" screamed the man, embracing Pistol in an unwarranted hug. The man had to jump to reach his shoulders.

"Vau-ghn! I told you not to call me that!" Pistol coughed out, gasping for a breath having been taken by surprise. He hated that nickname, more than he hated any of the deadly, hideous creatures on Pandora; and that was saying something. Vaughn dressed in a more civilized style bandit garb, clung to Pistol, almost as if his life depended it on it. He released his grip and took a step back and looked his friend up and down. Pistol could admit he knew next to nothing about the guy, sure he used to work up on Helios with Hyperion back in the day, but other than that and what he'd witnessed himself, there wasn't much about him in his mental catalogue of all things Vaughn. Still a good friend though, and right now Pistol was feeling a little concerned, Vaughn looked dishevelled and as though he hadn't slept.

"Dude, you are not going to believe what's happened!" Vaughn exclaimed, his bearded face conveying all the elements of ecstatic hysteria and also dread. Yet another who could convey two sentiments convincingly unconvincing, was this a new skill he was unaware of? He mused briefly before answering.

"Oh, trust me, I may just." He began walking, considering the day he'd had he wasn't going to question anything, or much anyway. He began following the single tyre track down the road. "You didn't happen to see a girl walk by you?"

Vaughn walked and talked with him. "Nah, no one for ages, at least I don't think so. This place is usually quiet this time of night... usually... But seriously, you actually won't believe this. You remember that friend I told you about, Rhys, the one with the cybernetics?" Pistol nodded, "Well, could you believe I finally found him, or rather Loader-bot found us both and then all hell ensued. But yeah, back to the point, he a few others and moi, of course, just took out a Vault Monster!"

Had Pistol been drinking he would have spat any and all for dramatic effect. "You're right I don't believe you!" he responded with a laugh, "How the hell did you even manage that?! And what are you even doing all the way out here in Hollow Point? Thought your base was the Helios Crash site?"

Vaughn was still smiling hysterically, "Oh, it happened believe me, and guess what two of our guys went missing! Rhys being one of them! Guy could never stay in one place long! Hah!"

Pistol wasn't going to ignore the blatant ignoring of his latter questions, but he pondered the event being relayed to him. Vaults and Vault monsters, this day had been full their mention and they were all anyone seemed to care about. He quickly tried to come to some logical conclusion to explain or at least reassure Vaughn that his friends were A-Okay, but he didn't have enough information to make any good assumptions and resorted to reiterating his question. "What are you doing here?"

Vaughn stopped in his tracks, "Well, the dude's my friend, and god knows where the hell he is, but we're making a plan, to get them back. Hell, I have no clue how just yet, but somehow we will. We'll get them all back!"

"All?"

"Oh yeah, Helios Base was invaded and conquered by Bandits, while we were preoccupied with the Traveller, not us but 'Bandit' Bandits, real bandits, those guys that shoot from the hip and scream while sneak attacking, you know the sort? They had guns, BIG guns! And lots of 'em." Vaughn informed him, gesturing a gun spanning the span of his arms.

"The Traveller?"

"Vault monster, sorry if I'm just spewing information, I'm a little..."

"Erratic?" Pistol suggested.

"No, I'd say tense? Yeah... tense, that sounds good." Vaughn corrected.

"Uh huh." Pistol, groaned as they turned a broad street corner, ahead of them he spied Alexis, leaning against her bike, her arms folded across her chest and a plain look on her face. He could sense himself experiencing relief at the sight of her, he wasn't entirely sure why.

"Alexis!" he called, waving towards her. Silently she looked up at him gave a weak barely visible wave back, her face remained unchanged.

"That your girlfriend?" Vaughn asked, smirking and also waving at her, albeit extremely overenthusiastically.

"No. No! Stop that!" Pistol exclaimed pulling Vaughn's arm down and finally succeeding to keep it down after a few attempts. "I just work for her that's all, well worked, for this morning, that's all..."

Vaughn raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips at him before continuing, "She so is!"

Pistol gave up arguing and increased his speed promptly leaving Vaughn behind and almost raced to Alexis' side. "Where'd you go?" he asked her, unable to mask any signs of concern.

"Just here, you know, thought I'd leave you two to reminisce or whatever." She spoke plainly, before a sudden realisation spread across her face, "Wait, were you worried? Because, seriously, man, this is Hollow Point, the worst that could happen is someone'll steal your kidneys! And just because I said you were cute and all that doesn't mean you need to feel indebted or that you need to care!"

Pistol yet again found himself not believing what he was hearing. Everything she seemed to say, was downgrading to herself, it was like she didn't care and didn't want others to waste their time caring either. Maybe he was taking it the wrong way, maybe he was hearing it wrong. Maybe he was just overthinking the whole thing. He was beginning to miss the Alexis that didn't speak much; the more he learned the more apprehensive he got.

"Of course he cares, he's in love!" Vaughn yelled back, having walked on past them. He held up his index fingers and thumbs in the shape of a heart.

Pistol felt his face burn bright red. He hated Vaughn in that moment though it quickly passed. He felt a cold hand cup his cheek and he moved into it. His eyes met with hers and somehow he felt his cheeks go redder, and feared they'd somehow burn through her hand.

"Huh." She remarked, gazing at him, she released him and then grabbed her bike.

"Huh what? What does huh mean?" he asked her, he was still blushing.

"Whatever you want it to mean..." She spoke softly, almost sultry and winked at him. She followed after Vaughn. His destination seemed to be theirs also. Pistol somewhat timidly followed, confused at her words and not possessing the mental power at that moment to process it all. He suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion hit him; he wished he was in bed.

He stopped to stare briefly at the blazing sign above the workshop, the words 'Catch-a-Ride!' were lit up, with coloured lights twinkling all round it. Just below it, less obvious in the dark was a smaller more discrete sign that read, 'Under New Management'. He shook himself awake, slicked back his hair and composed himself before walking in and joining Alexis.

~\/*\/~

Entering the workshop Alexis felt a sickening knot form in her stomach, there were so many people and she hated crowds. Well, barely ten from what she could see, but they were in a frenzy, the chatter was loud and words were indiscernible in the acoustic mess. It wasn't what she was used to.

She propped up her bike and stared on at them, watching Vaughn join the havoc. The noise dimmed a fraction when he did, but increased after he said something. Standing there, she took a moment to take in her surroundings; it was a busy looking garage and that wasn't including the flustered people in the corner. There were tools and vehicle parts everywhere, spanners, wrenches, every tool known to mechanics littered the shelves (and floor). Posters were plastered over the walls, layered on one over the over, corners peeling back to reveal old Hyperion and Dahl Propaganda.

Lost in her observation Alexis didn't notice a woman approached her.

"Hey there! I'm Janey, I own the place, nice to meet ya!" she said with a spring in her voice; Alexis noticed an accent, the Australian twang was infectious. The first thing Alexis noticed was the scar that prominently marked her from above her eyebrow all down her left side, it varied in depth and severity. She couldn't help but wonder who or what had caused it. "Kraggons."

"Sorry?" Alexis questioned, when Janey seemingly said the word out of nowhere.

"The scar, it was kraggons, nasty little bastards." Janey continued.

Janey offered her hand, and Alexis shook it weakly. "I'm- ahem" she responded meekly clearing her throat, and tightening her grip, to try to introduce herself again, "I'm Alex-"

At that moment Pistol entered with what was a new found confidence and interrupted her, "Hey Janey, long time no see! Am I right?!" he began embracing her in a friendly hug. Alexis watched them, she could tell they were, or had been, close and her mind raced into all sorts of crazy adventures that they'd possibly been on together.

"Pistol? Last I heard, you were dead!" she exclaimed, with the straightest face ever; there was a glint of amusement in her eyes. It wasn't quite clear whether she was joking or not.

Pistol grimaced but remained smiling, "Me, nah! Clearly!"

Alexis laughed, more at his reaction than anything else. None the less she attracted their attention. There was a short pause as they all stared between each other.

"See, she gets it!" Janey said.

"Gets what?!" Pistol exclaimed, but his question was futile. Alexis felt a smidgen of pity for Pistol, seeing as there wasn't anything to get but didn't feel even remotely obliged to explain that to him either. Janey upon spying the damaged bike became completely enraptured by it.

"Oh my gosh! Look at this beauty!" she exclaimed, crouching down beside the bike to get a good look at it and the damage. "What happened here? Poor thing's all torn up and broken!"

"Bandits." Alexis told her, not willing or intending to disclose any more information than that.

"Bastards, have no appreciation for anything, hate people like that!" she spat, "Take it you want it repaired, I would get straight to it, but, as you can see I'm little busy."

Janey indicated the still noisy crowd on the other side of the room, they had spilt a little but that did nothing to dim their cacophony. Alexis wondered what they were all so concerned about, from what she could see ideas were being bounced around the group as well as a few accusations, they looked worried, angry even. Alexis came to the conclusion that she wasn't the greatest at reading people.

Returning her attention to her broken bike, Alexis considered trying to fix it herself. She had little to no knowledge on vehicle mechanics, computers and electronics was where her expertise lay. She pondered, 'It couldn't be that difficult to learn, or figure out, could it?'

"Would $2000 up front convince you to do it?" Pistol offered interrupting her train of thought, removing the cash from his pouch. At this Janey began to see a more positive side to the situation.

"Hmm, I guess it would. I might be able to have it done by morning for ya! Good?"

"Good." Pistol agreed.

And that was one thing sorted. Janey headed off to gather the tools she needed, leaving Alexis and Pistol alone.

"You're an idiot." Alexis remarked, sitting down on her bike.

Pistol smirked and laughed briefly, "Got her to do it though, right?! Eh? You can't tell me it wasn't a little bit clever!"

She looked at his 'dumb' face and smile, she couldn't not agree as much as she wanted to. She simply shook her head, "You're still an idiot."

"I guess I am." He confirmed. The two burst out laughing.

Alexis was surprised herself at how close they had become in the space of a day, she had really taken a liking towards his character, which was rare; generally she hated people and took years to develop even so much as a close acquaintenceship. She felt his eyes on her and felt the questions he was itching to ask. As much as she knew he wanted to know her, she couldn't allow it. 'Fortunately' for her they were rudely interrupted before Pistol could say anything.

"Hello Travellers!" spoke the Clap-Trap unit in its annoying permanent gleeful tone, it rolled up to them with such excitement.

Alexis wasn't in the mood for a conversation as exciting as one with a Clap-Trap could be and immediately escaped the area leaving Pistol to battle the unit by himself.

"How about you be my new minion?!" she heard the Clap-Trap unit exclaim in it's over joyous tones as she abandoned Pistol. Looking back, she couldn't help but laugh seeing the pained expression on his face as he tried to explain to the bot that his no meant no. Not looking where she was going resulted in her colliding with a tall golden metallic frame.

"Ow!" she gasped, hitting the cold metal. She took a step back and upon further inspection discerned the frame to be a machine, its body resembling that of a human's skeleton. Atop the frame was a sort of head, wires were visible connecting the single red optic port to the rest of the workings. Alexis was fascinated and admittedly also a little alarmed.

"Sorry, I uh, sorry." She told it, assuming there was some sort of virtual or artificial intelligence residing within it; how else would it be able to function.

"Hi." it replied in a deep electrical voice, the usual monotone of other robots not present. "Have we met before?"

Alexis didn't even have to think about it, "Um, no, I'm pretty sure I would remember if I'd met something like you before."

"My databases show 52% similarity with a previous encounter." The machine pressed.

She shook her head, there was no way this bot had met her, "That leaves a lot of room for error does it not? I can say I'm 100% certain we've never met."

She reluctantly patted the machine on the shoulder, the metal feeling strangely luke-warm beneath her touch. The robot seemed to consider her words and then simultaneously agreed with them.

"Apologies."

"No, problemo..." she said, swinging her arms, feeling a little awkward. It was then than Vaughn noticed them and sped over to them, a much smaller red and silver spherical bot rolled up with him.

"Hey, Loaderbot, how are those schematics coming along?" Vaughn asked with an upbeat tone.

"Yeah how are they? Good I hope!" exclaimed the smaller robot. Alexis stood observant while Vaughn attempted to explain.

"Uh, Gortys, they don't have feelings or anything, I was just, you know checking if they were finished yet." Vaughn said. He seemed confused as to why he was explaining all this to a machine who should at least have some understanding of files and data.

"Oh! I see!" Gortys exclaimed happily. Alexis couldn't help but smile, the robots voice and demeanour was so upbeat she couldn't stop herself. Not to mention she was also the cutest robot Alexis had ever seen.

"Still processing, they will be complete momentarily." Loaderbot finally answered, returning to the group closely followed by Gortys. They all seemed to have calmed since Alexis had last registered their din, the noise levels had significantly dropped. It was then that a sudden realisation hit her.

"Wait did you say? Loaderbot? As in a Hyperion Loaderbot?" she questioned with genuine and increasing intrigue. The last Loaderbot she'd seen was the least autonomous machine ever, it had also tried to kill her. How had they evolved that much?

"Yeah, one and the same. He's got us out of more than few scrapes, wouldn't be here without him." Vaughn sounded melancholic, distant. Only a loud yell from the others brought him out of the trance, he sighed clearly more than a little stressed by the whole situation.

"What's all the commotion about?" Alexis inquired, as the bickering picked up again.

Vaughn sighed again and shook his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We lost a few friends to a Vault the other day, Rhys, and her..." he pointed at a young woman, her dark hair tied back off her face, she was angry and it was showing, she had her arm in a sling, "...sister, Fiona. Thing is we don't know if they're dead or not. I guess we're all hoping not but..."

Alexis hadn't been expecting such a grim recounting and felt herself feeling pity for them. But that wasn't what she was really interested in, it was the mention of a Vault that got her hooked.

"You found a Vault?" she asked, focusing on it rather than the people, cold and calculating.

"Vault of the Traveller yeah, our friends were inside the vault when it vanished." Vaughn continued, conveying the message that he didn't want to talk about it.

Alexis, gathered all information she had on the Vaults in her head; it was just about as much as anyone else knew. She pondered the consequences of this other vault having been opened. The results of the first hadn't been terrible but each one after only made Pandora more deadly.Couldthe world handle much more of this alien interference?

"You alright?" Vaughn asked, noticing her silence. Her expression turned dark, he involuntarily took a step back.

"Um yeah... what's your next move?" she asked him, suddenly returning to normal, "Because whatever it is, I want to help you guys."

Loaderbot then signalled to Vaughn that his download was complete, "Really? That's be great, the more hands the better!" he answered, a weight seeming to lift from him and his face look a margin less stressed. He left her and went to the humanoid bot.

Alexis, almost menacingly, stroked her knife in its sheath before leaving the workshop to be alone and to get some air.

~\/*\/~

Pistol had narrowly escaped from the Clap-trap, had it not been for Janey's barely tolerant liking for the machine he would have never left alive. He looked for his 'boss' among the individuals and found her nowhere, he could not deny he felt a tad disappointed at not finding her, but deep down knew she would not wander far without her beloved bike.

He was now at a loss and not entirely sure what to do. He spied Vaughn using an old computer monitor to view blueprints of a sort. Intrigued he decided to join him.

"What's this?" Pistol asked, bending over behind Vaughn and peaking at the screen. Vaughn jumped, startled by his unexpected arrival. Pistol laughed. "Sorry."

"It's... okay...um..." Vaughn stumbled over his words. "They're schematics."

Pistol had he not been aware of the circumstances under which Vaughn was coping, would have made some joke or other, 'well done, A*, here's a medal for stating the obvious' but he did know and tried hard to reel back his sarcastic side.

"Of what?" he asked, resting his hand on his friends shoulder.

"What? No witty rejoinder? You sure you're okay?!" Vaughn jokingly said, he smiled broadly. "Schematics to what's left of Helios. We need to take it back and first things first, we need to figure out any way we can of getting in by other means. But if I'm honest I'm not really sure what I'm even looking at!"

Pistol nodded agreeing and understanding completely where he was coming from; get back the base of operations then they'd have the resources to get back their friends. He leaned forward a regarded the images on the small screen, "I think you're looking at what remains of the plumbing network..."

Vaughn couldn't hold a slight laugh and only laughed more when Pistol sniggered too. It was then a young female approached them angrily.

"How can you laugh at a time like this Vaughn?! Rhys, Fiona, my sister, your friends! They could be out there dying somewhere, anywhere! They are the first priority!" she practically screamed at him.

Pistol stood awkwardly between them and chose not to speak. He hated being in the middle of heated disputes.

"Sasha, I know you're worried and I am too, we all are, but we're not much use to Rhys and Fiona if we don't have any resources to help them with" Vaughn replied, soundly and as calmly as he could muster.

"Bull-shit!" Sasha accused. "We can help them without any of that and besides we can use was we looted from the Vault Monster! If it's not enough then... then we'll work it out. Right?"

Vaughn took too long to reply and Sasha continued, "Look, I, I almost died today, and now I've lost my sister, I'm about as ready to lose her as she was to lose me. I can't sit here and do nothing Vaughn!"

She started tearing up, and seconds later tears were streaming down her cheeks. She battled to keep them at bay and wiped ferociously to get rid of them. Vaughn was unsure of his next move, he looked towards Pistol his eyes begging for help. Pistol took it upon himself to comfort her. Though resistant at first Sasha soon melted into the warmth of his hug. He was careful of her broken arm and softly patted her back. Vaughn walked around them and gave Pistol and thumbs up before returning to the schematics and messing with the settings.

Pistol didn't let go, not until Sasha began to pull away from him. She looked up at him with a hint of shock in her eyes.

"Thanks, um... who are you?" she asked stepping back, wiping her cheeks and eyes dry.

"The name's Pistol." He said confidently, giving her a small bow and taking her hand for a kiss. She giggled. He felt he should cheer her up, no matter dumb he felt doing it, at least he was being more successful with her than with Alexis.

"I'm Sasha and you are most definitely weird." She said smirking through her sadness.

He only laughed and shrugged his shoulders in a manner that spoke 'maybe a little'.

It was the most peaceful the workshop had been since they arrived. The bickering had quietened down to a low murmur between Vaughn and Loaderbot, the others had left them to it and sat down for what seemed a much needed rest. Janey was stuck with Clap-trap trying to assist her in the repairs of Alexis' bike; she repeatedly waved off the steward-bot, his presence being more a hindrance than anything.

Sudden;y from outside and a short distance away a loud bang was followed by several louder explosions. Pistol's first instinct was to investigate. He left the workshop hastily picking up his pace as he saw pillars of smoke rising from behind the buildings in front of him; Sasha, her curiosity getting the better of her, followed him.

They increased speed to a quick jog and stopped at the appearance of a burning building front of them. Alexis was stood there staring at the fiery mess. Pistol walked to her side and inspected her wellbeing. She was beaten up and dirtier than he had seen her last, her hand was clutching something small. Following her gaze Pistol notice a body, dead or alive he couldn't discern, but it was the man who he had collided with earlier, his hat sitting a few feet from him with flames licking at its edges.

"Alexis." he said, shaking her gently trying to pull her back to the real world. She moved her eyes up to meet his. "Alexis?"

Silently she offered him the item she was holding, he took it and inspected it. Another Hyperion ID card, had he followed them here? Pistol felt his leg wound throb with pain remembering the events of earlier that day. He felt anger swell up inside him.

"What the hell do they want?" he asked her, before turning to Sasha, who looked on bewildered and confused. His eyes wandered everywhere and then back to look at the blazing inferno one last time.


	3. Chapter 3

Pistol was awoken by the loud growls of a revving engine from his small refuge in the back of the workshop. He rubbed his eyes and face as he sat up, still in a slight doze. He pushed himself up and entered the front shop and saw Alexis astride her bike revving it into life while Janey inspected the workings. 

"All seems to be working great!" Janey shouted over the engine, cupping her hands around her mouth for extra volume. Alexis continued to rev the vehicle, the sounds of the inner workings together in harmony appearing to soothe her; she had her eyes closed and seemed not to hear anything else.

Pistol couldn't help crack a smile and began to approach them. To his dismay, Clap-trap blocked his path.

"Morning Minion! Ready for a day of kicking Bandit Ass?! No?! Good! Because I've got no bandits ass for you to kick!" the bot said, more talking to himself than to Pistol. 

Ignoring the bot Pistol sidestepped and walked around him, eager to see Alexis, but upon returning his sight to her the engine was closed up and she revved the bike once more before zooming off and away. Pistol finished his journey to where the bike once sat and was almost bewildered at how fast it had moved; he coughed a little on the dust it had kicked up.

He stared blankly and shook his head not comprehending how she could leave without even saying goodbye.

"Goodness!" he heard Janey exclaim from behind him. He looked at her, she was cleaning up a wrench with an oily cloth and was smiling. "Don't worry lover-boy, she's just going for a test run. Got to make sure nothing'll explode at high speed is all."

While her explanation was to relax him the word 'explode' was having the opposite effect. It was then that he realised that she'd implied a relationship between them. "We're not together." He told her bluntly.

She laughed, "Good! This girl, Alice? Alex? I don't trust her, I think you should get rid of her mate." 

"Her name is Alexis, and why? I trust her, isn't that enough?" he argued.

"I think she's bad news," Janey kicked an old storage crate by her foot, "Look in here, you won't believe what I found."

It was then that Pistol's ears pricked up at hearing the sound of an engine encroach on their position, seconds later Alexis zoomed in and came to an abrupt halt. Janey effortlessly kicked the heavy looking crate aside. Pistol watched as she returned her cleaning her tools. Alexis parked the hefty vehicle and removed her goggles and shook out her hair. 

"All good?" Janey asked, turning away from her work for a brief moment acting as though she had no problem at all with her. Alexis nodded and Janey returned to what she had been doing. Pistol glared at Janey, this unnecessary tension aggravated him but right now he was too distracted by Alexis herself.

Pistol stood waiting for her to greet him, instead she dismounted her vehicle and walked straight past him towards Vaughn and Sasha; the others he noticed were gone. He followed her. 

Vaughn was fiddling around with an old ECHO recorder and didn't seem to be having much luck. Pistol remembered it as the only thing on the dead Hyperion worker that was hopefully to be of any use. They were lucky it hadn't gotten destroyed with everything else after his grenade went rogue; or at least that was how Alexis had described it. Pistol, as well as the others, found the explanation hard to swallow but Alexis had been in shock, supposedly, her recollection of the event was bound to be a little off; or so he kept telling himself.

"No luck?" he asked them collectively, Vaughn shook his head despondently. Sasha suggested poking all the buttons to see if anything would happen and sadly nothing did. Alexis sat, in a rather unladylike position, her legs apart and her elbows resting on her knees; her hands were pressed together and rested under her chin. She had her thinking face on as Pistol had come to call it, it was her most frequented expression and the only one he could properly identify.

Minutes passed and they had gotten nowhere.

"God damn this thing!" Sasha yelled tossing it aside. She exhaled loudly annoyed by the whole thing, she stood and paced before slouching down again.

"It's probably encrypted?" Pistol suggested, just throwing any ideas out there.

"Great!" Sasha exclaimed, her head fell into her one good hand as she relaxed defeated by an inanimate object.

"Where are the others?" Pistol continued. Vaughn answered.

"Sent LB and Gortys off to do recon at Helios pretty sure they can handle that... god, I hope they can, and Athena and August are heading to Rhys' Atlas base. Hopefully we'll get something from that." 

"What did you say?" Alexis spoke, seemingly random and at no one in particular. She hadn't moved from her place; her eyes were fixed on the ECHO device.

"Who me or-?" Vaughn asked

"Pistol" she responded harshly.

"What? About the others? Or the encryption thing?" he replied. As he said the words it dawned on him, it was encrypted.

"The ID card!" both he and Alexis said in unison. Pistol pulled it from his pocket where it had been all night; he smiled as she smiled and they moved in on the ECHO device. They swiped it front of the camera, nothing, trying typing the ID number, nothing. Stumped they both paused for a moment. After a brief interval Alexis lifted the recorder and inspected its edges, and there it was; a small rectangular slot just big enough for the card to fit it. Pistol slipped it in and the device whirred into life and the screen lit up.

They all crowded around it and the message began to play. A single man, dressed as a bandit was on the screen and was relaying instructions.

"All .......personnel conve- ..... on ........ Helios...... succ- .....Repeat....." his voice and image came out broken and static, Sasha snatched the device and messed with the dials until the message became clear, "All Hyperion personnel converge on Atlas Base 087, Operation Helios success. Repeat converge on AB 087!" he repeated.

"What the hell is going on?" Alexis wondered out loud. 

"Atlas base 087?" Pistol questioned, he questioned again when Vaughn's face went pale.

"Athena, August!" he exclaimed, suddenly in a rush to gather some provisions and leave.

"What about them?" Pistol asked

"That base 087, I'm pretty sure that's Rhys' base, that's where they're headed! They could be in trouble!" he explained quickly. Sasha too had jumped into action, she picked up a small pistol and was rearing to go already.

"Janey!" Sasha shouted, with no real reason to shout. "We need a vehicle!"

Janey stopped what she was doing and smirked, "Now, that I can get you."

She headed to the 'Catch-a-Ride' console and input a few codes, moments later a Bandit Technical digistructed onto the platform and was ready to go. Pistol watched as Vaughn and Sasha entered the vehicle. Alexis called him to her bike as she jumped onto it and instantly started the engine. He quickly joined her, mounting the vehicle and pulling his neckerchief into position.

"Aren't we being a little hasty?" Pistol whispered to Alexis as he sat down. "We could be heading into a trap..."

"No, we have to go." she said with a snobbish tone, "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Pistol remained silent with no motivation to respond, perhaps she was right, perhaps not; only one way to find out.

He looked up to Vaughn who was flicking switches and starting up the technical's engine. Pistol felt an excitement build up in him, the urgency of the situation was thrilling, the feeling he'd had the morning prior was nowhere in sight, he'd never felt happier to be potentially facing death. And then all at once the feeling waned at the sound that came next. The Bandit technical started and growled and then altogether died, black smoke billowing out from the exhaust.

"Ugh! Dammit!" Sasha groaned punching the dashboard and sitting back in a huff. Vaughn simply face planted the steering wheel and groaned, the horn joined him in letting out a long uninterrupted whine. Pistol sighed.

"Oops," they all turned to look at Janey, "must've been a dodgy blueprint, ah well, I can fix it!"

"We'll go on ahead, meet you there!" Alexis told them, and without waiting for them to reply she sped off. Pistol gripped on for dear life nearly being left behind. As they exited 'Hollow Point' Alexis passed him the ECHO device; he hadn't even noticed her lift it.

"Tell me the way!" she instructed him, and he examined the map, she had somehow managed to pull up on the tiny square screen.

"South!" he shouted over the engine and wind gushing back them. Alexis pulled on the breaks and executed a harsh U-turn manoeuvre almost throwing Pistol to the wilds. He tightened his grip as she accelerated on into the wilderness heading to Atlas Base 087.


End file.
